Posted in News archive There is, and has always been, controversy over gender at work. The recent gender pay gap analysis has highlighted this. Here I suggest some simple reasons as to why companies should employ more women. on 10 Jan 2019
To encourage Equality and Diversity
Women and Men have differing characteristics which complement each other. By mixing more men and women, work places can become more diverse – with more skills being utilised. Women are thought to be more organised, multi-tasking, team-working and nurturing by nature. Whereas men are more prone to take risks.
There is evidence that women run businesses are less likely to fail than businesses run by men companies than men
Studies in the US after the banking crisis have provided evidence that this might be the case and Statistics by KSA Group and Creditsafe of 4m insolvent companies across the UK, found that those ran by women, were 70% less likely to go insolvent, than those by men. Of course – this is just a claim based on research – but, this isn’t the first time the statement has been made. Based on this research companies should take on more women! Could working women save our high street crisis??
To take advantage of the Parental Role Reversal
In today’s modern world, we are seeing more stay at home dads. No longer are the days for it just being mums at home being the primary caregiver and fathers being the bread winner! As a result, if fathers are becoming more willing to stay at home then companies should not worry about employing women. They should take advantage of the role reversal. There is a vast pool of untapped talent out there.
To help understand customers.
The consumer market today, is made up of both women and men. Therefore – surely it makes perfectly good business sense for women to be a part of the workforce, to bring a ‘female sense’ to businesses? If male workers were the only type, how would a female perspective be considered? How would we know what women demand? Customers account for all, so surely the work force should match this to reflect views from everyone.
Bringing back the Middle Ages?
What is interesting is that despite the depiction of women being housewives, as in historical times, there are some contradictions! In the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon for women to have their own business, and to be given businesses when male counterparts died. Interestingly, they often had a key role in the building profession, particularly building bridges and churches. This was until the birth of the 18 th century, an industrial revolution and a more patriarchal society– can we not go back to a pre-patriarchal society? If we have changed the working roles once, it’s possible to do so again.
Companies need to embrace women’s abilities to improve productivity, diversity and even as mentioned above perhaps lower the risk of insolvency!
Rebecca Dunne, the author, is the freelance writer for KSA Group, who are Licensed Insolvency Practitioners in the UK, established in 2000. KSA Group run www.companyrescue.co.uk which contains over 2000 pages of useful information for struggling businesses.